Andy Murray was once asked about the dynamics of a new coaching partnership, and compared the experience to the first stirrings of romance.

“It’s like any relationship you have,” he said. “I’d try to impress my girlfriend a lot more the first few months I was with her than I do now.”

Murray had his first chance to impress Amélie Mauresmo yesterday, and he came out smelling of roses. Sporting a neat new haircut as he faced Paul-Henri Mathieu, he showed an equally sharp touch with the racket, refusing to give up a break of serve in a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Clad in black, his new coach was sitting on the end of a packed players’ box that also included Murray’s girlfriend Kim Sears, his assistant coach Dani Vallverdu and fitness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green. In other circumstances, Mauresmo might have been described as poker-faced. But she did put her hands together for a brief round of applause at the end of each set. And by the standards set by the human waxwork that was Ivan Lendl, this was childlike enthusiasm.

“Any time you start working with anyone new, it’s obviously going to be slightly different,” said Murray.

“But I just went on court with her for the first time today [so] nothing much is going to change there. We spoke a bit about tactics and then chatted a little bit afterwards. But there’s not going to be any big changes in my game this week. I also wouldn’t expect any before Wimbledon.”

It was easy to hear Mauresmo’s short salvos of applause because the crowd at Queen’s is arguably the quietest on the tour. The well-heeled denizens of Barons Court appreciate Murray, but in a bashful sort of way.

So it was that Murray’s first match on home soil since the Wimbledon final took on a rather somnolent Sunday-afternoon feeling. It was played under a blazing sun, and with little tension after Mathieu had wasted a 40-0 lead in the very first game to concede a break of serve.

For Murray, this was almost a glorified training exercise as he padded around in his catlike way, placing the ball across the net rather than hitting it with venom. Making the shift from clay to grass is never easy and he has only had three days of practice on the new surface, none of them with Mauresmo. But he relied on his deft hands, bending his backhand slice like a golfer fading the ball, and taking advantage of Mathieu’s lumbering footwork. The Frenchman tumbled over three times, though you had to admire the way he righted himself after one fall and pulled off a winning drop-shot in the same movement.

Murray re-emphasised that his deal with Mauresmo will remain on a trial basis until the end of the grass-court season. He added that they had discussed scenarios for the rest of the year. And by the sound of things, it would see her accompanying him around almost every ATP stop.

Lendl spent 25 weeks by Murray’s side in 2012, which came down to 20 weeks in 2013. The fact that he wanted to cut back further was at the root of their split in March. Murray was asked if he expected Mauresmo to undertake a similar workload, and simply replied “More”.

“Away from the court,” he added, “it’s really the communication and the relationship that decides whether it’s going to work long-term. Because in terms of what she achieved, then obviously she knows how to win. She was the best in the world. She won Wimbledon and major events. She’s a strong character as well.”

Today, Murray will play Radek Stepanek for a quarter-final berth. The last time they met on grass was in 2005. And that was the match that first announced a fuzzy-haired 18-year-old to the world, as he beat the 14th seed in straight sets on Court One.